Sensex snaps 100 points, below 17900; Nifty breaches 5400

NEW DELHI: The BSE Sensex dropped over 100 points in early trade on Friday as investors and funds preferred to book profits, tracking weak global cues.

At 10:00 am, the 30-share BSE index was trading at 17,746.16, down 102 points or 0.57 per cent. Infosys (1.07 per cent), RIL (0.8 per cent) and ICICI Bank (1.05 per cent) led the losers' pack. The index has hit a high of 17,822.50 and a low of 17,734.26 today.

The 50-share Nifty index was down 0.63 per cent or 34 points at 5,381.90. It has hit a low of 5,373.90 and a high of 5,399.65 today.

"The rupee declined by 18 paise to 55.44 against the dollar in early trade today, snapping four sessions of gains, at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on fresh demand for the American currency," PTI reported.

"Besides increased dollar demand from importers, a lower opening in the domestic equity market put pressure on the rupee, forex dealers said," said the report.

IFCI Ltd dropped over 14 per cent in early trade on Friday after the government approved conversion of Rs 923 crore of debentures held by it in IFCI into equity, which also raised the government's stake to 55.57 per cent.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd slipped over 2 per cent in early trade following reports that the company has slashed its forecast to 2 per cent for sales growth of the farm equipment in India as the worst rainfall in three years delays crop sowing.

Coal India Ltd moved 1 per cent higher after the coal ministry asked the state-miner to quickly approve the model fuel supply agreement to be inked with power firms.

Reliance Industries Ltd, which led the Sensex lower in Thursday's trading session, is under pressure in today's trade also. The oil & gas major slipped 1 per cent in the opening trade to Rs 786.

The BSE Realty Index was trading 1.07 per cent lower, the BSE Capital Goods Index declined 0.89 per cent and the BSE Metal Index was down 0.8 per cent. The BSE HealthCare Index was up 0.1 per cent, followed by the BSE FMCG Index, which was trading flat.